I customized today's CSA Produce Box by swapping out the leeks for more Okui Strawberries.The season is short, we need to eat as much as we can get.
I usually pass on the beets (or give them away) but our May LL Group potluck is coming up in a couple of weeks and the group likes beets so guess what I'll be bringing.
It's been awhile since I have baked us any treats. I have lemons so I made an 8 x 8 pan of lemon bars. It smelled so good we had to start "taste testing" before it had cooled or been dusted with powdered sugar.
The recipe called for 3 tbsp of lemon juice which took only one lemon.
Woohoo, I have three more lemons.
Kochi, will be spending the weekend in the Broody Pen. Although she was showing signs of impending broodiness I left her alone while she was still laying. On the third day of not leaving the nesting box (nor producing an egg) I whisked her to the garage.
I think she knows the routine. Last year she spent every other month in the Broody Pen.
Nope. The spur-of-the moment warp of yesterday did not work. There were issues.
First, the warping paper wasn't long enough. I had grabbed a roll and - well - it wasn't long enough so I slapped on another piece of paper. Second, three of the slots had eight threads even though they were all supposed to have four threads. Oops, but an easy fix. Not so easy was the fact that I started winding the warp even though I knew my tension was loosey-goosey.
When I came to my senses and listened to myself ("stop! stop! stop!") I knew I had to back up and undo my wrongs and start again.
I carefully unwound the warp and put it back on the raddle, cut out the extra warp threads, and removed the warping paper. When I was done I left the room.
Nowadays we have the option of customizing our weekly CSA produce box. I made several changes to today's box: I swapped out the Green Kiwi and instead opted for a second container of Okui Strawberries. (It's the first week of strawberries.) I also omitted Red Beets for Bok Choy. In my mind I envisioned cute petite Baby Bok Choys. Haha.
I have been thinking about weaving an Inkle Band bag strap since the end of last December. That was when The Man's sister gifted us with two Water Bottle Holders that she created. Such a wonderful gift from a wonderful Sewist - the attention to detail, the fabric choice, and a zipper to boot. It cried out for a custom handwoven strap.
Today I finally sat down and got started with this new project.
First I chose the yarn colors, coordinating them with the Hawaiian print fabric.
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| 12:56 pm |
Using the same pic I checked color value to make sure there were different value contrast. Looks good.
Next I used an Online Inkle Loom Pattern Generator and designed a 41-thread pattern with my four colors: Black, Cream, Green, and Gray.
I "wove" on a comb to preview the colors and design.
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| 1:47 pm |
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| 1:51 pm |
Warping the Inkle Loom
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| 2:55 pm |
41-thread warp
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| 3:17 pm |
Since I am aiming for a 3/4 - 7/8" wide band and struggling to maintain it I think the weft is too thick. After almost 6" of weaving I decided to unweave back to the beginning and change to a thinner weft of 5/2 cotton instead of Crochet Cotton # 3 (~ 3/2 cotton).
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| 4:23 pm |
Weaving easier with the 5/2 cotton.
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| 6:31 pm |
Inspired by pineapples.
Who knew that plastic outdoor chairs could be rejuvenated with fire.
We have six "Mission High-Back" style resin chairs on the back deck. They are in great shape but for the fact that they look yucky: blotchy, sun-faded, oxidized with a chalky residue that gets on your clothes, ahem, your bottom.
We couldn't find replacement chairs in that particular style at our local hardware store so I was looking at a few YouTube videos of folks rejuvenating their chairs by spray-painting them but then I came upon a few videos of plastic chairs (and stadium seats) being revived with a propane torch.
It's called Flame Polishing, whereby you're melting the surface of the plastic and it smooths out and looks shiny and new.
Yeehaw, we gotta try that.
Took it outside for better ventilation.
The practice chair looks great - like smooth dark chocolate. The deck chairs will need a wash and a scrub before they get their flame treatment.
Amazing, you learn something new every day.
Coming home today I had to wait a few minutes till the neighbor's pet pig crossed our driveway.
He took his time as he moseyed along.
New Log Splitter.
Although the old Log Splitter is still going strong after nearly ten years of routine use The Man needed to decrease the need for human power and increase mechanical power.
The new Log Splitter does not require The Man to lift logs onto the horizontal log cradle, er, let me repeat that in case you missed it: lift-the-logs-onto-the-horizontal-log-cradle. Enough said.
Spinning outside to take advantage of the sunny day before the rain returns this weekend.
I had an urge to touch wool today.
I can see the birds' fiber ball for their nest building from my kitchen window.
I found it quite irresistible.
